Karnataka Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa took to Twitter to greet a first-year Pre-University (Class 11) student Rakesh Krishna K, and Class 5 student Veer V Kashyap for winning Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar this year.
Yediyurappa said, "I congratulate our children for making our state proud by winning this prestigious award. You are achievers today, but you will ever be remembered as role models for many generations to come in future."
Rakesh Krishna from Bannur in Puttur taluk and 10-year-old Veer V Kashyap, from Bengaluru, are among the nine children to receive the award under the Innovation category.
Seven children received the award under the Art and Culture category, five for Scholastic Achievements, seven under the Sports category, three under the Bravery category and one in the Social Field category.
Rakesh Krishna, who studied at Vivekananda English Medium School, Puttur, has focused on the agriculture sector and come out with many prototypes.
One among these is the "Novel seeder for systematic cultivation", which he presented at the Jignyasa 2018 competition organised by Agastya International Foundation in Bengaluru.
Another awardee, 10-year-old Veer V Kashyap is originally from Delhi but he developed a board game around COVID-19 named it as Corona Yuga which is now available online, during his prolonged vacations with his parental grandparents in Bengaluru.
When he was stuck in his grandparents' house due to lockdown, he came up with a board game that reflected the time of quarantine, hand sanitiser use, social distancing, mask-wearing, and more.
According to the Navy Wives Welfare Association website, Veer Kashyap is a 10-year-old Class 5 student at Army Public School New Delhi. The website further describes him as an outdoorsy person who loves playing cricket. "He is passionate about solving various Rubik cubes. He also plays guitar, harmonium, keyboard and piano. His favourite pastime is playing chess and board games with friends and family," the website said and it also describes him as 'Youngest Board Game designer."
